The Order of the Lion
by Fran-Marie-Cullen-1918
Summary: When Isabella's father is murdered by the Volturi, she discovers that she must take over his role of protecting the Book of the Dead. She enters a world of vampires, magic and discovers that all is not what it seems. Set in the 1880's.
1. Prologue and Chapter One

**I do not own any of the twilight characters they belong to Stephenie Meyer. Hope you enjoy this.**

**Prologue**

How I found myself running through the streets of London at night was a mystery to me. My life up until two months ago had been full of parties, dancing and champagne, now it was full of horror, death and fear. I was still clutching my parasol and trying to hold onto my cloak, even though I knew that they would not help me if I was caught. I skidded around the corner and ran into something solid, a dead end? Slowly I lifted my head to see the eyes of the man that I had been running from for the past two months. Was this how I was going to die?

**Chapter One**

_The summer of 1882, London_

I walked slowly behind my father as we travelled into the depths of Kensington Palace, my eyes had not yet adjusted to there being little light, all I could see was the outline of my father and the two men who escorting us. After what seemed like a mile long corridor we finally came to a halt in front of a pair of ominous doors. I let the breath that I had been holding for the entire journey out and felt a shiver travel up my spine. Whatever or whoever was behind that door, the thing that had taken my father and I, was something to be feared. The doors were opened by two guards that were standing either side of them and for the first time in my life I felt insignificant.

My father and I were pushed into the cavernous room and I realised that the entire perimeter of the room was occupied by a hundred men all dressed in suits. My father paled slightly at the sight of the men and proceeded to grab a hold of my hand. A man dressed in what appeared to be clothes from the last century stood beside a throne in the centre of the room, he raised his hand and there was a deathly silence. "We are gathered here today to witness the execution of the honourable Charles Swan, who is charged with betrayal of the mighty Volturi family." The man paused when he saw me. "Remove the girl from her father, she will provide the entertainment for the party." I found myself being grabbed dragged to the other side of the room, while my father was now kneeling in front of the throne.

I awoke with a start and realised that I had been kicking and moving violently in my sleep. Even though that night had been a week ago it still seemed that it had occurred only yesterday. My father had been killed that night, in front of my eyes. I shivered, I was living by myself our servants had left as soon as they heard that my father was dead. I was an orphan now, a criminal in my own home. After getting dressed, I slowly tiptoed down the grand staircase, and proceeded to do my usual check for intruders. After having spent my entire life being looked after by servants, the past week had been a shock to my 18 year old self. Sighing I wandered back up to my room, today was the day that I was going to leave London for good, my plan was to track down my mother who had left when I was only a child. She would know why my father was killed and somehow she would know how to make this right. As I entered my room my eyes locked with a pair of topaz ones from across the room, before I even had a chance to scream a hand was placed over my mouth from behind. How had the man managed to move so quickly?

"Please stop struggling Miss. Swan it won't do you any good. I'm Edward Mason from the government and I'm here to help you." He finally released me and I quickly backed to the other side of the room.

"How should I trust you, you look like the people who killed my father?" My mind flashed back to the grin on the man's face as my father fell onto the stone floor. "Wait, you were there." I reached behind me and clasped the poker from its holder beside the fire.

"Yes, Miss. Swan. I was there undercover we needed proof of what the Volturi were doing, or should I say are doing. Put the poker down if I wanted to kill you I would of by now, trust me." My grip loosened on the poker, something about his voice was sincere. "Tell me Miss. Swan have you ever heard of the Book of the Dead?"

And that was how I found myself sitting in the board room of No.10 Downing Street, surrounded by men. "Cup of tea, Miss?" I looked up to the servant smiling, only to be interrupted by the man, Edward. "No she won't thank you Elsie." I scowled at him and went back to resting my chin on my fist. Mr. Gladstone sat down at the head of the table and everyone deceased with their idle chit-chat. "As you know there has been a grave event, Charles Swan was murdered by the Volturi a week ago today." Everyone in the room began to murmur and whisper to one another. "His daughter is now the only surviving member of the Swan family and therefore it is our duty to educate her and train her in the ways of the vampires." They all turned to look at me and I frowned slightly.

"I'm sorry what?" I said finally after a few moments silence.

"Mr. Mason I trust that you can arrange the protection and training of Miss. Swan?" Mr. Gladstone asked completely ignoring my question.

"Of course Sir, however this is all if the lady consents. As you know the rule…" Edward trailed off.

"Ah yes. Miss. Swan you must pledge your allegiance to the Order of the Lion and they will in return protect you and train you so that you may carry on with your family's duty."

"I'm sorry but I really have no idea what you're talking about. I mean vampires do not exist they are a figment of people's imagination. And I'm sure if they did they wouldn't want anything to do with me, my father was simply a banker." I replied while sighing.

"Your father was not a banker, Isabella. Your father was in charge of the protection of the Book of the Dead. You wear the key to it around your neck, and vampires do exist. You're sitting beside one." I looked to my left to see Edward grinning at me and I could see he had two prominent fangs. "Will you pledge your allegiance?"

"Yes."

I was escorted through a set of corridors and led into a room that contained a book on a stand and nothing else. "Stand in front of the book." Edward ordered from behind. I slowly moved forward until I was in front of the golden book. "Place you hand upon it." As I did I felt a surge of energy travel up my arm, I faltered slightly. "And repeat after me. I Isabella Marie Swan, pledge my undying trust to the Order of the Lion."

"I Isabella Marie Swan, pledge my undying trust to the Order of the Lion."

"I promise to protect the sacred book and serve my country as others have before me." As I repeated this sentence my voice shook near the end as I felt a pain in my hand was touching the book. "Remove your hand from the book." As I did the world went black and for the first time in my life I fainted.

**R/R **This is a new story for me just an idea that I had. I hope that you like it.


	2. Chapter Two

**I do not own any of the twilight characters they belong to Stephenie Meyer. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Two**

I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted by the grin of someone hovering over my face. "You know I expected more from a Swan." In the few hours of knowing 'Mr. Mason' I'd discovered that he was slightly full of himself, perhaps this was a trait in all vampires.

"For your information Mr. Mason that is the first time I have ever fainted." I tried to sit up but I was only pushed back down onto what appeared to be a sofa.

"We move you tonight to the safe house, you will be escorted by me and you'll be pleased to hear another vampire." He moved to sit in the chair opposite me.

"What happens, out of curiosity, if one were to break those vows?" I asked sheepishly while massaging the part of my head that had hit the floor when I fainted.

"You die." The harshness of the sentence caught me off guard; he must have noticed the look on my face. "I'm sorry Miss. Swan did you think that us vampires are like the ones you read about in your romance novels? We do not care for humans they are simply our cattle and if you betray us then death will always be the penalty." He rose swiftly from his chair and began to walk towards the door leaving me to think about what world I was a part of now.

At precisely 10 pm I was escorted out of what I realised to be the library to a carriage the door held open by Mr. Mason, who refused to look me in the eye. I climbed into the carriage quickly and I was joined by Mr. Mason who sat opposite to me, he was hanging out of the window talking quietly and so quickly to someone that I could barely understand what he was saying. Another man with blondish hair climbed into the carriage and sat opposite to me, the other vampire. The carriage jolted forward and we began to move swiftly through the streets of London. Part of me wanted to peek out of the curtains that had been drawn but that would involve me leaning closer to the vampires. After a few minutes of awkward silence the other vampire finally spoke. "I'm sorry for my rude behaviour Miss. Swan. My name is Mr. Newton, it's a pleasure to protect you I've always admired your family…" I smiled warmly at him; it's strange how something that looks so friendly can be so dangerous.

"I'm sure she doesn't want to hear about your shrine Mike, be quiet." Mr. Mason's voice cut swiftly through the air in the carriage.

"I'm sorry Mr. Newton I had no idea that my family was so important to you. Do you come from London?" As soon as the word London had left my mouth there was crash in front of the carriage and it came to a halt suddenly.

"Don't move." Edward climbed down from the carriage and shut the door behind him. My breathing had involuntarily sped up.

_Earlier in the evening, Volturi Palace Italy_

"There has been a sighting of the girl, my lord." A guard said.

"Good where?" The man who had killed Charles replied from his throne.

"London, sir, she has been seen entering Downing Street with none other than Edward Mason." The lead vampire laughed.

"They're recruiting her? No matter she will have to be killed like her father she knows too much, send our best guards there immediately. I want her dead before sunrise."

"And Mason?"

"If he stands in your way then kill him, no matter who his family is. I want her dead no matter what. Am I understood?"

"Yes, your Lordship."

I sat in the carriage listening to Edward and Mike fight for my life. Why was I so important? Why my family, we protected the book but why was it so important? What would my father do? I gathered up my courage and opened the carriage door; I was greeted by the sight of Edward and Mike fighting off about 10 other vampires. As soon as I opened the door they all turned to look at me. There was something in my veins, warmth, not bodily warmth but power, the same power that I had felt when I had touched the book. Without registering what I was doing I raised my hand, and my necklace began to faintly glow. Then for the second time that day everything went black.

When I was finally able to open my eyes again I saw that the vampires that had been fighting Edward and Mike were dead. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I looked at Edward who appeared to be kneeling on the ground beside one of the vampires…Mike. I ran toward them holding my long skirt up to avoid me tripping up. "Did I?"

"No, one of the others got him before they died." Edward let go of Mike and turned towards me. "Get back in the carriage, we carry on moving." The coldness was back in his voice. We sat in silence as the carriage moved; the rocking motion was slightly soothing. I was a murderer. I had killed. Was this how my life would be from now on? My father would never be proud of a daughter who had killed, the thought made a tear that had been threatening to spill over, fell onto my cheek.

I must have falling asleep because the next thing that I remembered was being carried from the carriage into what appeared to be a country house. I clung tighter to whoever was carrying me as I was carried up flights of stairs and then set down on top of a canopied bed.

I awoke in the morning to the sun shining through the windows that faced the bed, and groaned having realised that I had fallen asleep with my corset on. I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. My hair was a mess; tendrils had escaped from the pins and were now hanging in front of my face. I pulled out the few remaining pins and allowed my long brown hair to hang in curls down my back. I went to move towards the door but stopped when I heard voices coming from outside it. "Is she still asleep?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Tidy her up Elsie; we need her looking her best my fathers visiting." I recognised the voice, it was Mr. Mason.

"Yes, sir." I quickly scrambled to get back into the bed and closed my eyes feigning sleep. "Miss? Sorry to wake you up by Lord Mason is visiting and I've been told to get you cleaned up and ready." I looked up at Elsie's smiling face, and nodded subjecting myself to nearly an hour preparation.

I sat waiting outside of what must be the ballroom of the house, I'd taking to playing with my necklace. The door opened and I was announced by a footman. There at the head of a large table sat Lord Mason, to his left sat Edward. Who looked at me quickly then looked away. "Miss. Swan please let me introduce you to the thirty members of the Order of the Lion." I looked around the room dubiously and then curtsied shakily. I was offered a chair and took my place around the large table. "Let the meeting of the Order of the Lion commence."

**Please review this chapter I would be soo happy to hear people's opinion. Even a smiley face or a sad face would suffice. :D**


	3. Chapter Three

**I do not own any of the Twilight characters Stephenie Meyer does. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Three**

_Meanwhile in Volturi Palace_

A woman dressed in a scarlet dress swept through the corridors in the palace making her way to the throne room, where she was greeted by his Lordship. "Renee? It is a pleasure, how can we help you?" He said surprised from his throne.

"I want to know why my daughter is still alive, and why the Mason boy is protecting her like a love sick puppy." The woman replied sharply.

"Ah, I didn't realise you knew."

"When I hire someone to wipe out my ex-husband and my daughter I expect them to be dead. However I find that Charles is but my 18 year old daughter has somehow escaped the most powerful vampires in existence!" When the woman raised her voice the vampire flinched.

"I'm sorry, I am just about to meet with my source and I promise you that the problem will be dealt with."

"It had better be." With that she swept from the room.

_The Order of the Lion meeting, Undisclosed Location,_

I looked around the room and stared in amazement at the mermaid in the glass tank in the corner of the room. "It's rude to stare." A voice said in my ear, his breath cold.

"It's rude to ignore people." I whispered back, only to realise he was back in his chair at the other end of the table.

"As you know Miss. Swan's father was murdered by the Volturi last week. She has pledged allegiance to the order, and now we must decide how to train her." The room broke out into discussion with people shouting ideas at each other. "Ahem, however I think it is safe to say that the training will be completed by my son by the order of the Prime minister himself." It wasn't until the mermaid in the corner of the room spoke that the room went silent.

"She's to be trained in the traditional manner, she may be a woman but it is her duty. We mermaids would be happy to help." I stared at the mermaid unable to take my eyes off her, and then I remembered the fairy tales that always ended with sailors being murdered by them.

"Of course, I think that Gianna is right the only way to prepare her is to train her like we would train any male keeper." Lord Mason said, while smiling at the mermaid. "She will be trained here by Edward until her 19th birthday when she will take over full duties. No objections." With that he stood and left the room. I slowly pushed my chair back and walked towards Gianna.

"Do I have any choice in this?" I asked the mermaid, hoping that she would be able to help me being the only female I had had contact with other than Elsie.

"No child, you do not like I said we mermaids are willing to help. You know how to call us." With that she dove back under the water and disappeared.

"You know Isabella about the Book of the Dead?" My father asked me from his rocking chair in the corner of my room.

"The book that the Egyptians made father?" I replied while playing with my dolls hair.

"Yes the book was made of obsidian, and the spells inside could resurrect the dead." He said with a smile on his face. "This book however was coveted by powerful Egyptians and it still is even today." All of a sudden my fathers face morphed into Edward's. "And we all know what happens to people who covet things, they die." Then he lunged towards me. I awoke screaming only to find Edward on the other side of the room.

"Get out." I said the tone of my voice surprising me.

"Miss. Swan it was a nightmare, you have to believe me something is invading them." He tried to explain.

"I don't care anymore! I just want to go home; I just want to go back to being Miss. Swan. To being innocent, and loved by my father, I don't want to be a murderer or a keeper." I started to cry hysterically, grasping at my throat trying to find breath. I fell asleep with my forehead being stroked by a hand.

"Sit down, Miss. Swan. Today you will learn about the Order of the Lion." Edward said from the chair across the room from me. I however was less interested in the order at the moment and more interested in the cup of coffee that sat on the table beside me. After a week of sleepless nights the only thing that got me through the day and the endless lectures Edward provided was coffee. It wasn't until five minutes after Edward had stopped talking that I realised he was standing with his arms folded across his chest glaring at me. "You know if you're going to not pay attention to anything I say then I'm going to stop them bringing you coffee for our morning lectures." I sighed and sat up straight in my chair.

"Continue with your lecture, I mean lesson." He arched an eyebrow then

began talking again.

"The Order of the Lion was founded in the 700 AD by a powerful vampire,

Cullen. The Order was set up to protect King Arthur and his knights. To allow the order to be successful a powerful warlock joined to protect the Book of the Dead, that powerful warlock was a descendent of you. After many centuries other powerful families joined the order including the mermaids." Edward paused.

"So I have to protect this book with my life?" I asked before sipping my coffee.

"Yes, I suppose you do. How about a walk in the gardens to wake you up all of that coffee can't be good for you?"

"Fine but only if I can do something other than listening to you teach this afternoon." I stood up from the chair I had been lounging in for the past hour. The gardens at wherever I was were enormous, after being brought up in a town house it was a huge change.

I had long since wandered off from Edward after he had stopped to talk to one of the gardeners. I found myself in front of the rose garden, and began to remember when my father used to take me to Hyde Park when I was little and I used to run rings around him. I smiled at the memory.

"How many times don't wander off, this may be a safe house but people can still get in."

"Sorry, I keep on forgetting." I turned around and linked my arm with his. "There."

"You know many ladies would kill to be in your shoes right now." I sighed at the thought of having to spend an entire year with the cocky comments of Mr. Mason.

**A/N Please , please, please review. **


	4. Chapter Four

**A/N I do not own any of the Twilight Characters they belong to Stephenie Meyer. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Four**

Later that afternoon I found myself in the ballroom waiting for Edward to arrive. I had somehow ended up standing in front of the tank that had been occupied by the mermaid. Even if I did wish to have their help I could not because I did not know how to call them. "You shouldn't listen to the mermaids you know, they tend to lie." I spun around to see Edward standing in the doorway with two swords in his hand.

"Pot calling kettle black?" I replied walking away from the tank.

"Hardly, if you knew some of the things mermaids had done, you wouldn't want to know them so much, especially Gianna." I looked over my shoulder at the tank.

"I'm sure that your view is a little bias, after all if I knew everything about vampires I highly doubt I would want to be alone in a room with one. Yet here I am." I continued sauntering towards him.

_A hundred years ago the Atlantic Ocean,_

The Marianne sailed across the calm ocean, the sail cutting out a black silhouette against the orange of the sunset. On the ship that was captained by Captain Swan, the most sacred book of all time lay nestled in a barrel that originally contained gunpowder, it was on its way back to home to England. Underneath the bow of the ship the water rippled a little, what the crew and the captain did not know that this would be the last time that the book would ever be safe. A haunting melody travelled across the ocean towards the boat and in a few seconds every crew member was hanging over the railings. The mermaids would bring about the end of that ship and the end of the book.

I picked up the sword and immediately felt the tingling in my hand. "Who did this sword belong to?" I asked Edward who was sitting in a chair across from me.

"An ancestor of yours." He replied simply and went back to sitting in silence.

"Why do I have to learn to fight? I mean no-one uses swords anymore." I said swinging the sword a little in my hand.

"Because there are those like myself who are a little older fashioned." He stood up from the chair and in seconds his sword had clashed with the one I was holding. "Now let's see how much of that Swan instinct you have." And proceed to attack me again with the blade. After two minutes of our swords clashing and me blocking every attack, he stopped and began circling me like a hunter. "Good, I must admit after that fainting session I was expecting less." The circling was beginning to make me feel a little uneasy. He made an attack again which I swiftly blocked. "How much do you want to know who that sword belonged to?" He asked while still circling me, I had taken to turning my head to follow his path.

"Why?" I asked.

"I can tell you if you like….but I want something in return." I sighed and stopped following his movements.

"And what would that be?" I replied.

"Your necklace." The request caught me off guard, Edward would never ask for the key to book. This was all a test. I swung around caught him with my sword pushing him to the ground and pinning him there with my boot, my blade pressed to his neck.

"Please as if I would fall for that one, I might be a girl but I'm not stupid."

"If you weren't stupid then why would you think that I was the real Edward Mason?" He smiled and then morphed in another man. I screamed and dropped my sword, it made loud clatter as it hit the floor.

"Isabella, are you all right?" Edward stopped in his tracks when he saw the man lying on the floor and sighed. "Emmett, what are you doing?" The man, called Emmett, grinned from where he was lying on the floor then stood up.

"I came to see what all of the fuss was about. You've got yourself a feisty one here Eddie; she just tried to kill me." I huffed at the statement and picked up my sword again.

Five minutes later and we were all sat in the parlor together, Emmett and Edward were sat on two opposing chairs while I was standing looking out the window and down at the gardens. I saw a glimpse of scarlet fabric between the hedges near the bottom of the courtyard, my mother. I quickly moved away from the window and ran towards the door. Ignoring the questions that were being flung at me, I grabbed my skirts and raced through the corridors and out into the gardens, stopping to get my bearings then I raced to where I could see the scarlet silk. When I finally arrived there I realized that it was simply a piece of silk tied to the plant with a piece of parchment attached to it.

_If you want to know what has happened to your mother then go to the Royal Opera House tomorrow night at 11pm. Bring no one with you. _

I heard footsteps behind me and quickly folded the paper then stuffed it into my corset. "Miss. Swan why did you run off like that?" Edward said his voice laced with concern.

"Nothing I just thought I saw something but it was only a gardener." I smiled at him and linked his arm and began walking back towards the house.

_Later that evening,_

"There's something going on between you two." I heard Emmett whisper not so quietly from the card table across the room.

"There's nothing going on, you know me all business I'm simply training her." Edward whispered back. "Straight" I heard Emmett curse and I quietly giggled.

"Well I'm willing to bet £10 on the fact that by the ball next week you two will be courting." I shut my book and rose from my chair.

"Well goodnight Mr. Mason and Mr. McCarty." I curtsied and left the room with thoughts of my meeting tomorrow swimming around my head.

**Please if you're reading this review, it would be great to know what people think and if I can improve on anything. Thanks :)**


	5. VERY IMPORTANT AN PLEASE READ

**A/N**

**I regret to tell you that I am not going to continue with this story or any of my other stories, in fact. I have received a few flames for another story of mine, which have turned nasty and made me reluctant to continue writing. I would also like to concentrate on my grades as I plan to apply to medical school in September. I apologize to the few people who actually liked my story and those of you that are getting this because of Author Alert, I apologize for deleting 'The Bones in the Forest'; if you have any questions please PM.**

**Thank you**

**Fran**


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